For Want of a Sabretooth Tiger
by turbomagnus
Summary: When Time Force is on duty, nothing is as it seems...


Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers, Power Rangers Time Force, Trini, Alex, etc. I just own Blaine, the Time Shifter morpher and his Chrono Ranger alter-ego.

Author's Note: While technically not related to it (more than any Power Rangers series is related to another most times), this does take place in the same timestream as Power Rangers Literati...

* * *

Power Rangers Time Force 3006  
"For Want of a Sabretooth Tiger"  
By J.T. Magnus, "Turbo"

* * *

Time Force Captain and Red Ranger Alexander Wesley Drake groaned as he looked at the file on his computer, silently cursing the scientists who had came up with the Time Shifter morpher.

"Send," the nutcase, Alex thought, "Blaine in," he said instead.

After a few minutes, the door to his office opened and the black-dressed member of Time Force stepped in and leaned against a wall, "You rang?"

If it would have done any good, Alex would have glared at the Chrono Ranger, but from what he understood this kind of behavior had been a family trait for over twelve-hundred years, so there was no point in it.

"Mind explaining this?" Alex said, turning the monitor so that Blaine could see the file it displayed, a file with two contridictory sets of name and picture, one of an Asian woman with long hair labeled Trini Kwan, the other of the same woman with shorter hair and the name Trini Scott.

"It's called a com-put-er," Blaine said slowly, "They were invented in the mid-twentieth century and as far as I know every schoolchild knows how to use them."

"Magnus!" Alex barked.

"Yes, oh-Sirian-imitating-one?" Blaine responded, his eyes smiling.

"WHY are there two versions of this file?"

"Off hand, Captain, I'd say because there's two ways events went, maybe?"

"You're about five seconds away from permanent assignment as our liason to Space Patrol Delta's station on Denemunda. Do you know how little happens on Denemunda, Ranger?"

"Fine, fine!" Blaine grumbled, "I thought that when you saved a guy's life he owed you."

"Excuse me?"

Blaine moved from his place at the wall and leaned over Alex's desk, pulling up the information, "There, September third, 2001, Trini Kwan miraculously survives being hit by a car..."

Then he pulled up a similar file, "Except she didn't," he said, pointing at the lifeless body of the first Yellow Power Ranger, "Because of my Chronopathic abilities, I sensed it before any of the Time Force computers at any point in time... If Trini Kwan died, she'd never marry, her descendent Jennifer Scott would never be born, so she'd never marry Wesley Collins, so you'd never be born, Captain... And that's just direct relations, that's not counting the other lives that would be affected by her loss..."

Alex groaned, something told him that this was gonna be an interesting, if technically illegal tale. The newest Ranger in Time Force had a habit of disregarding the manual that rivaled that of Alex's own ancestor and predecessor/successor as Red Ranger.

"So you saved her? We have RULES against direct interference without justifiable cause, and don't even THINK of feeding me that 'A Ranger will not stand idly by while another Ranger is in trouble' line, I don't care if it IS the 'oldest law of being a Power Ranger'," Alex lectured.

"Actually, I didn't."

"Do you realize the amount of hell we're both gonna catch for - wait, what?"

Blaine would have smiled at the fact that Alex had just caught up, except that it wasn't the time.

"I know it's against the rules, and I didn't break them... I just... creatively interpreted them."

"You keep 'creatively interpreting' the rules and I'm gonna be gray and balding before I'm thirty, if they don't kick us off the Force first. What did you do this time?" Alex asked, knowing that this wasn't the first time the sixth member of his team had creatively interpreted some regulation or other.

"I Shifted things around," Blaine said, indicating the two parts of his morpher.

"I'm starting to regret that we ever issued you that thing."

Blaine's congenial tone suddenly shifted coldly, "You 'issued' me this because of the same reason the Quantum Controller and Q-Rex had to be sent into the past where they couldn't harm anything, at least until Eric Myers found the Controller, because the Time Shifter refuses to work for anyone but me, just like Myers was the only one who could control the Q-Rex."

Alex winced, regretting having momentarily forgotten that Blaine was more than proud of his family's Ranger tradition and his own Chronopathic talents, an ability the rarity of which went beyond that of Telepathic or Telekenetic, the ability to sense changes in the timestream and at times even in other timestreams. It was that Chronopathic ability that allowed Blaine to use the Time Shifter both to morph into the Chrono Ranger and to travel through the different timestreams without need of a Timeship.

"I'm not sorry, but you know what I meant. So what DID you do?"

"Simple, since I couldn't change what happened to Trini Kwan, I found a different Trini Kwan to take her place."

"Blaine..." Alex said, warningly.

The unmorphed Chrono Ranger put up his hands defensively, "She volunteered. I Shifted into another timestream where things weren't going so good - instead of just losing his powers, Thomas Oliver was killed by the Green Candle, so there was no one to become the White Ranger and Lord Zedd was winning because of it, and spoke to the Trini Kwan of that timestream..."

* * *

(Geneva, Switzerland, 1996  
An alternate timestream.)

"Trini Kwan?"

The Asian teen stopped and turned, "Yes, can I help you?"

"Actually, yes, Ms. Kwan, you can," Blaine looked around to make sure they were alone, then reached into one of the pockets of the vest he wore and pulled out his badge, "Time Force Power Ranger... We need to talk..."

"What's this all about?" Trini asked, trying to deal with the fact that this person she didn't know had just said he was a Power Ranger.

"In another timestream, in the year 3006, I'm part of an organization that monitors and enforces the timeline. That organization is known as Time Force, and we have a problem."

"Why should I believe you?"

Blaine sighed, "I knew I'd have to do this."

Crossing his right arm over his chest, he said, "Chrono Shift!"

A key-like device flipped out from the part of his Time Shifter on his right arm that he inserted into a slot on the left arm's Time Shifter half before turning it. A light moved outward from the Time Shifter, forming the standard Time Force Ranger uniform over Blaine's clothes before coming back to the Shifter and turning it into that of the Chrono Ranger. Reaching up to either side of his neck, Blaine undid the clasps of his helmet and lifted it off, tucking it in the crook of his arm.

"Believe me now?"

"Barely, but I believe you. Why me? Wouldn't it be better to go to Zordon and the Rangers?"

Blaine nodded, tapping his Time Shifter with his free hand to power down, "It would, except the problem isn't in this timestream and you're the only one who can help."

Trini looked at him skeptically, "I'm a FORMER Power Ranger, what can I do?"

Blaine looked back and said in all seriousness, "Be yourself. The problem is that in a different timestream your counterpart died and she wasn't supposed to. The reason I'm here is to ask you to take her place."

"What?"

"You heard me fine, I'm asking you to come with me and take the place of a Trini Kwan that died when she should have lived."

"But what about..."

"Technically," Blaine closed his eyes, "It's against the rules to tell you this, but... You see, since Thomas Oliver died, he couldn't become leader when Jason Scott left and there was no one to become the White Ranger... Rocky DeSantos is a good fighter, but he's no leader, and with William Cranston as the Blue Zeo Ranger, he won't be free to fulfill part of what he's supposed to do..."

"This timestream... is doomed, Ms. Kwan," Blaine finished, sadly, "And so is my own. Mr. Oliver here and You there are perfect examples about the ancient saying regarding horseshoe nails. There's no way to save this timestream without dooming others, but if you agree, then a doomed timestream can be saved."

"Who are you to make that judgement?" Trini asked, harsher than she normally spoke.

"Ms. Kwan," Blaine responded simply, "I make these judgements on a daily basis. You don't like it? Too bad. Time Force is in it to preserve as many timestreams as possible, lady, it's our job and what we've trained to do."

Silence reigned for several long minutes as Trini took in everything she had been told. More than once she started to say something, then stopped herself before the words took form. Finally, she spoke.

"Will I remember... any of this?" Trini gestured, indicating the world around her.

"Only as dreams, fleeting shadows, for all intents and purposes, as far as everyone involved is concerned you will be that Trini... Don't consider this a kind of bribe, but you may find it interesting to know now, since you won't remember it later, that instead of passing your Morpher and Coin to Aisha Campbell, in that universe Zordon used to Sword of Power to create duplicates of the Morphers and Coins of yourself, Zack Taylor and Jason Scott to give to Mr. DeSantos, Ms. Campbell and Adam Park, so there you'd still possess the ability to morph... and not long after the point in time at which you'd arrive, you and Mr. Scott will be married."

"Me and Jason? Married?" More time passed quietly as Trini took in the possible future that had been revealed to her.

"And no matter what I choose, we still lose here?"

Wordlessly, Blaine nodded once.

"But if I say yes, then your world has a chance of survival."

Blaine nodded again.

"But I won't remember my own life."

"Technically, up until this point, you both had the same life... The point of divergence that affects you personally the most is that before he left in my world, Jason proposed to your counterpart, although it would be over five years before they would actually be married. But no, you won't remember this conversation, you won't remember this timestream except as passing thoughts of what might be... At least, not until the time is right."

"Until the time is right?"

"And don't ask me when that is, even Time Force doesn't know everything."

"Yes."

"Are you sure? Once it's done, there's no coming back, no resets."

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Alright then," Blaine said, pressing a button on his left Time Shift that rotated the ignition from vertical to horizontal, "Here we go..."

Extending the key again, Blaine turned the ignition up and away from him, causing himself and the former Yellow Power Ranger to vanish in a time-warp.

Across the Youth Peace Conference compound, in what had been Trini's room, the wind blew through an open window and a letter drifted down to the floor. On it, visible through the stains of tears was the reason for her decision...

_Dear Trini,  
__I don't know how to tell you this, so I'll say it straight up.  
__I've found someone new. She's cute and funny and with the loss of the Gold Ranger powers, she's also a chance at a normal life away from being a Power Ranger.  
__I'm sorry I have to tell you this way.  
__Your friend, always,  
__Jason._

* * *

(Silver Hills, California, 3006  
Normal timestream.)

"After that, it wasn't anything hard. Just after the accident use the Time Shifter to freeze time, switch out the two, give the new one the old one's memories, and there we go, timestream preserved."

Alex groaned, an action that was becoming all-too-common when dealing with Blaine, "Do me a favor, Blaine?"

"What, Captain?"

"Take a vacation and leave your morpher here, at least long enough for my blood pressure to go back down."

"I'll see what I can do," Blaine responded, starting out the door, then paused with a smirk "Oh, and if I see Nadira, I'll send her this way."

"GO!"


End file.
